2021 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Jessica Appel, Katie Davenport, Madison Howard, Jenny Kenkel, Tricia Klein, Laura Reese, Kate Ponto, Kathryn Schantz, Angela Vichitbandha, and other members of the University of Kentucky Math Lab
Artists
University of Kentucky Math Lab
Mathematics Department, University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky, USA
Statement
The University of Kentucky Math Lab aims to encourage undergraduate math interest across a range of projects. These include research projects and outreach as well as visualization projects. We interpret visualization broadly making room for both 3d printing of polyhedra, simplicial complexes, and string diagrams and more traditional textile crafts such has quilting and crochet.
Artworks
In a sieve of Eratosthenes you cross out a number once you know it is composite. This quilt works on the same principle, but we colored a square by the smallest prime divisor. For example, the dark gray checkerboard pattern is all the multiples of 2, the light blue is multiples of three, and the aqua is multiples of 5. Changing the number of squares across the top of the grid changes the visibility of certain diagonals. Since 30 (one more than the 29 squares across) is a multiple of 2, 3 and 5 we get diagonals from top left to bottom right for these colors. Since 28 (one less than the 29) is a multiple of 7 there is a diagonal from top right to bottom left. These are just some of the many patterns you can find!